Rechargeable batteries may be used to store and supply electricity in various applications. Examples of rechargeable batteries include lead acid, nickel cadmium (NiCd), nickel metal hydride (NiMH), lithium ion (Li-ion), and lithium ion polymer (Li-ion polymer), among others.
Such batteries may be used in portable devices and vehicle systems, for example. In some examples, rechargeable batteries, e.g., lithium based batteries, may be employed to at least partially propel vehicles. For example, such batteries may be employed in electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles.
Currently a bus bar support is installed to the battery module that attaches to one or more cells, and then a bus bar is attached to the support joining multiple cells together. A sense line assembly including a sense line and sense line harness is attached to the bus bar to monitor cell voltage. Finally, retaining clips are added to secure the sense line harness.
In one example approach, a battery module is provided. The battery module includes a set of stacked battery cells, each stacked battery cell including at least one cell tab and a bus bar assembly including a bus bar, a bus bar support overmolded around a sense line is electrically coupled to the battery cells, the bus bar support including cell tab openings having the plurality of cell tabs extending therethrough.
In this way, it is possible to have a more robust cell voltage sensing configuration, while also achieving more robust cell aligning with reduced manufacturing complexity. As a result, the manufacturing costs of the battery module may be reduced. Specifically, a sense harness assembly may be omitted from the battery module, if desired, due to the integration of the sense line into the bus bar support.
The above advantages and other advantages, and features of the present description will be readily apparent from the following Detailed Description when taken alone or in connection with the accompanying drawings.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the present application, the scope of which is defined uniquely by any claims that may be presented. Furthermore, the present application is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.